Jimmy October Talks Dancehall’s Influence On His Music
Summer may have winded down but Jimmy October has still been making waves alongside Kes & the Band for the Liki Tiki tour in the US with stops in Philadelphia’s Theatre of the Living Arts and the historic House of Blues in Anaheim. The two have made “Magic” before with their 2020 Deputy-produced collab featuring Etienne Charles. While this is his first tour, Jimmy recently touched the US in March at SXSW alongside Kalpee, Nailah Blackman and Freetown Collective.
The Trinidad and Tobago-born artist blends his own style of new calypso and Afro-soca with R&B, Hip Hop, Dancehall, and Afrobeats. This works nicely on songs such as Pull Up with Tano and Brooklyn Decent. His inspirations range from Bob Marley, Machel Montano and Protoje to Jimi Hendrix, Frank Ocean and PARTYNEXTDOOR.
Jimmy October’s opening set in Philly won the crowd over, teasing unreleased music among crowd favorites like Wake Up and Remember the Days gliding across the stage with grace, style and pristine vocals against a Trinidad flag while the ‘gal and man dem’ waved their own flags from Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and more while catching or bussing a whine. While bringing a taste of the islands to foreign, Jimmy sat down between Maryland and California stops to chat with DancehallMag about his influences and tour life.
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How does it feel touring the US alongside man like Kes and the band? And how did the “Magic” collab and touring together come about?
I still remember when Kes played me the instrumental for Magic and was like yo “lets collab on this tune” That in itself was a blessing so to be here now touring with him and the band is crazy to me. We’ve been cool for a couple years and we’ve even worked on music together before – I’m actually credited as one of the songwriters on his single Close To Me which features Shenseea.
Around the time we were working on Magic, him and I spoke a lot about what I coined as “New Calypso” and how we wanted to make a song that could represent that in it’s rawest form. Having someone like Kes appreciate the history of our music as Trinbagonians but also care about the way our music is evolving is what I think made it easy for us to make a record like that together.
As for tour specifically, It was just a matter of the vibe and timing being right. This is officially my first tour so I’m really happy about that.
What does it mean to be representing Trinidad & Tobago on an international stage?
I want people back home to see that, and appreciate who we are and what we have to offer to the world. To be more specific I want younger artists and anyone that looks toward me for any bit of inspiration to know that it’s possible once you believe in yourself EVEN when you don’t believe in yourself. Trust that I have moments when it feels like it’s too much and it’s not working out but then God will show me something like this and I end up all the way over here on a tour. I feel immense gratitude for all of this.
You emerged on the scene with songs like “Remember The Days” and “Pull Up” which blends calypso with dancehall. How has dancehall influenced you and your music?
When I think about Dancehall artists like Beenie Man and Sean Paul, I remember growing up being fascinated by the way they blend vibes to create different sounds and feeling like there’s something special about that (Songs like ‘Girls Dem Sugar’, ‘Like Glue’ and ‘Hold Yuh’ by Gyptian) There’s a particular feeling you get from that type of music that I’m connected to.
Are there any dancehall artists you could see yourself collaborating with?
It’ll be dope to work with Sean Paul and Shenseea.
You recently linked with Protoje, Lila Ike and Jesse Royal, who also had a show in Philly. You also blessed the New Wave stage in Trinidad a while back. How important are those links between Trinidad and Jamaica as far as culture and music?
I remember seeing Proto comment on my post the day before being like “What kinda sorcery is this?? I have a show in Philly tomorrow too” Hahaah … so I knew we were gonna try to find a way to link up. Since we first connected some years ago, it’s always been mutual support. We’re all artists from the Caribbean that’s pushing the culture forward and I think its powerful when there’s that type of togetherness. We spoke a lot that night about Trinidad and Jamaica and doing our part to unify and keep the connection alive so look forward to seeing more and more of that.
The new music you teased on stage has an upful vibe to it and got a great response. How would you describe the sound of the new music you’ve been creating?
I’d say the new music is the best music I’ve made so far. I’m really embracing the fact that I’m here to make music for the world so there’s so much genre-bending happening. It’s a WORLD SOUND. I’ve spent the past couple years really fashioning my sound to represent not just where I’m from but also where i’m going. Sonically it feels like home but you can press play and carry that anywhere with you.
How do you want people to feel after a Jimmy October performance, especially if they’re seeing you for the first time?
Honestly … I just want people to feel free. If you connect with something from my performance then that means you connected with me and I want you to hold on to that. So when the show is over and you play my music you can remember that feeling.
